The machining of parts of tools requires accurate adjustment of the machine head of a machine tool if close tolerances are to be maintained. Previously, head adjustments were very difficult to make and required numerous measurements involving a great deal of time. Further, once the alignment had been completed there was great fear of moving the milling head because of the re-alignment difficulty. One such method of aligning the heads comprises placing an accurately flat surface on the machine table and measuring the change in distance from the cutting head to the flat surface as it moves relative to the surface of the surface. The flat surface would be traversed in one direction and accurate adjustments made and then traversed in another direction to align the machine along a second axis. However, this method did not compensate for variations caused by misalignment of the collet, spindle and head.